Thread: 85yr Brit sails raft across Atlantic

Looks like fun, good on um.

An the one guy does a great impression of Richard Branson.

I love stories like this, a real adventure
Most of us won't live to 85, let alone be rafting across the Atlantic
Hope he makes it to 100.

Super story. Can't get much better than this kind of success/dream

Nice to read a happy news story for a change.

Now how they gonna get back ?

Great story!!

Sorry pal, but nice try; you'll still have to go back to Britain sooner or later.

a few more pics


high-tech nutrition diet - chocolate and crisps!




John on the cabin roof during towing in St Maarten

from their website
Mr Smith, who celebrated his 85th birthday on the raft on March 30, is a twice-divorced father of two who lives in Acton, west London; and he is no stranger to adventure.

In his long and busy life he has flown a gas balloon over East Africa and the Swiss Alps, made the first British gas airship, built a steam-powered raft, rode a motorcycle from South Africa to London (and back years later), and driven to Persia (now Iran) in an ex-Army truck.

He was also a science correspondent of The Daily Telegraph, television presenter, documentary film-maker, and somehow found time to visit more than 70 countries and write 30 books.

The crew, inevitably described as “motley”, came together after Mr Smith advertised five years ago for “OAPs” to join him on a trans-Atlantic voyage by raft, a project that was to cost him more than £60,000.

“Old people are more sensible than young people,” Mr Smith says

The intrepid Mr Smith, meanwhile, is already thinking about taking the Antiki on another voyage. The Bahamas, the original destination of the transatlantic crossing, is a possibility. He is certainly not ready to potter around in the garden just yet.

Mad focker but to put it in perspective once in the Atlantic at the right time of year the weather is pretty predictable especially with today's technology and the swell is very far apart. It is only when you are near land where it gets unpredictable. He's certainly had a full life.

interview with one of the crew from The Telegraph



David Hildred, 57, is a consultant civil engineer. He lives in the British Virgin Islands and has just returned from a 3,000-mile trip across the Atlantic on a raft made of water and gas pipes, organised by former “Tommorow’s World” presenter Anthony Smith.

David, how did you become involved in the An-Tiki expedition? Did you see the advertisement that Smith placed in The Daily Telegraph – “Fancy rafting across the Atlantic? Famous traveller requires 3 crew. Must be OAP. Serious adventurers only”?
No, I didn’t. Funnily enough, my involvement with Anthony started when I was 13. We had a book fair at school, where we were encouraged to go in and choose a book to buy. I saw a book with a picture of a gas balloon over the game herds of Africa on the front, and for some reason it appealed to me. It was written by Anthony Smith.
Over the years, I read many more of Anthony’s books, and, inspired by him, ended up spending time in various parts of the world, working as an engineer but also travelling and adventuring. I sailed down the Amazon in a dug-out canoe and have taken part in many hot air balloon trips.
One day, I decided to write to him, just to say thank you for all he’d done. He invited me round for coffee and I ended up spending two days there. It was then he asked me if I wanted to be involved in the project.

The expedition website claims that the trip was partially organised “to show that older people are capable of undertaking… adventurous projects”. Was this important to you?
“Older” is the wrong word. We did use it on the website, but if we had our time again, I think we’d say “maturer”. Old is such a negative term these days. People shouldn’t have to do or not do certain things because society says. Anthony is 85 now, and he doesn’t want to go to Tesco’s, he wants to sail across the Atlantic on a raft. I think we were all quite like-minded in that respect.

Are there advantages of having an adventure like this at an older, or “maturer” age?
If I look back at the many hairy things I’ve done in my life, I think the benefit is that age gives you a better assessement of risk. When I sailed down the Amazon, the only safety measure I took was to have an inner tube from a car tyre with me. It was something to sit on, but I also tied it to my foot with a piece of string so I’d have something that floated to hold onto if the canoe capsized. I don’t think I’d do that now – I’d have a proper life-jacket!

Tell us a little about the expedition. Was the raft hard to sail?
No, it was probably easier to steer than a conventional yacht. We wanted to use guaras, centreboards which let you change the angle of a boat by raising and lowering them, and which were used on the Kon-Tiki expedition. People said to us “You need rudders” in case we got into trouble; I said no. Eventually we ended up taking rudders, guaras and a steering oar with us – but the rudders broke after three days. So we steered the raft with the guaras, then used the steering oar for finer control when we were close to land. We didn’t steer at all really. The raft steered itself.

It sounds very relaxing…
It was. We read books, talked, baked bread, looked at the stars. It was a slow walk across the Atlantic. Though when the wind was right, we could get four to five knots out of it, and on the best day do about 80 nautical miles.
You arrived on the Dutch Caribbean island of St Maarten 66 days after you’d set off – though you’d intended to end up in the Bahamas. What happened?
We were delayed at the start due to problems with the raft’s construction, but the main problem was the wind. For several weeks, we were either stopped or going backwards. It was a bit frustrating.
Some of us had time contraints like needing to be back at work, so instead of the Bahamas, our original destination, we stopped at St Maarten. The plan is to leave the raft there for a year, then the same crew or a different crew will take it onto the Bahamas. I think we’d all like to go on.

The trip aimed to raise money for the charity WaterAid – something reflected in your choice of material for the raft, which was mainly made of the pipes used to carry water in the UK. Why did you pick this charity?
Water is becoming a critical issue in the world, which people just don’t appreciate as they stand in the shower or flush the toilet with fresh water. How silly is that? People in Africa are gobsmacked when they hear we flush our toilets with something they spend hours walking to collect.

Did the crew get on well during the voyage? Smith has joked that “the word mutiny was only spoken about two or three times a day…”
We all got along very well. As you get older you get more tolerant of people’s foibles, as you’re more aware of your own. There was no “I wish he was off this boat” – at least, not from me!

Smith celebrated his 85th birthday on board, I believe?
He did, and we celebrated in grand style. We baked a cake, and we all sang happy birthday. I’d even brought along some chocolate for just such an eventuality. How many people do you know who celebrated their 85th birthday on a raft in the Atlantic?
Were you glad to set foot back on dry land?
I wasn’t looking forward to going back to work! But I was very pleased to see Trish [David's wife] because she came to greet us, and gosh, I’d missed her. We received such a welcome too. Hundreds of people gathered to cheer us and all the ships blew their horns.

So now it’s back to the British Virgin Islands, where you and your wife live. Is it true you live on a boat there?
Yes, I’ve been living on boats since about 1983. I called my yacht home for 25 years, but that’s been sold, and now we live in a trawler.
It’s a very nice way to live: you’ve got the sea breeze, you can easily jump over for a swim, and if you don’t like the neighbours, you can go somewhere else. We use the British Virgin Islands as a base for exploring, but it’s a bit of houseboat at the moment because my work is here. Still, the other day, Trish turned to me and said: “Let’s sail to Australia”. It could happen. She’s very adventurous. And I’ve got a few years left in me yet.

Bloody great. Great story. Great lines by Smith. God I was worried about my boating plans! Made my day. Didn't start well Wigan only tied Everton, still worked on the boat with new vigour after reading this! Cheers Genghis..

Good thread.

Originally Posted by genghis61

Anthony is 85 now, and he doesn’t want to go to Tesco’s, he wants to sail across the Atlantic on a raft.

I love that line . . . very inspiring
all this reminds me of an old friend I have, lifetime involvement in motorsport, only stopped working for Honda (bikes) when he was 70 after retiring and being bored . . . part of Ulysses Motorcycle Club (for over 50s, motto 'Grow Old Disgracefully'), after cancer and heart problems he's had to sell off the four big bikes he'd kept, even the beloved Goldwing. So he's bought three sports cars - a Honda, a Citroen and a BMW. If someone asked him to go sailing like this I can imagine him just locking the house and heading away.

He doesn't want to go to Tesco's either!